Up With the Birds
by thefairestofthemall
Summary: It had never dawned on the princess that her ability to communicate with birds could ever be considered as...strange. (My take on how Snow has dealt with her ability to communicate with birds throughout her entire life. One shot. Hints of Snowing and Emma/Snow.)


**Author's note: **So, this was a little one shot idea I had a while back about the way Snow has dealt with her ability to communicate with birds (otherwise known as her bluebirds) throughout most of her life. It's entirely headcanon, of course, but adorable nonetheless. (With a hint of Snowing and very brief Emma/Snow — who can possibly complain?!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or claim to own the rights of any of its characters, etc.

With that being said, enjoy!

* * *

There were many things Princess Snow White either enjoyed or loved with a tender tenacity. Two, however, were the most important out of them all.

For one, there was her father. The only man she loved more than life itself. His bedtime stories were unlike any she had read on her own, and always finished with the most beautiful saying of all: "And they all lived happily ever after." It was a very reassuring thought for a little girl. Dragons could be slain, and evil forces defeated into the depths of oblivion. Good _always_ won in the end. It was absolutely preposterous, according to her, if it didn't.

Princes were meant to marry princesses, and then meant to live happily ever after together in a grand palace such as hers.

A life she was _very_ anxiously awaiting to lead one day.

Lastly, of course, there were her bluebirds. Curious little creatures, much like herself, who accompanied her teddies whenever she organized a tea party. They were such wonderful companions, for she didn't really have any friends, and just as excellent storytellers as Father.

Visions of lands she had never once seen filled her childlike dreams with every passing night. The woods. The villages. Palaces that had been deemed to be just as magnificent as the one she resided in.

Exploring seemed far more entertaining than sneaking into chambers she was forbidden to enter, and _very_ exciting. Perhaps, if asked, her father could agree to visit another neighboring kingdom with her? One where they could explore through its woods together and be apart of sceneries that resembled the ones in all of her storybooks?

But, when asked, the answer was disappointingly quick to arrive.

"Snow, alas, you know I cannot. I have a kingdom to reign."

She never brought fourth the subject again, yet couldn't help herself from sharing her sheer disapproval to her governess during one of her writing lessons.

"If Father is too occupied to take me, why can I not visit the woods by myself? My bluebirds have endlessly reassured me that they are very safe."

Communicating with birds was quite normal to her. Unfortunately, to the woman sitting before her, it was not.

"Your bluebirds? Your highness, birds cannot talk. Stop speaking of such nonsense."

"But I can understand them! They are my only friends, and I love them dearly," she's quick to protest, but her governess' stern gaze doesn't once budge to her words.

"That is of no importance. You mustn't _ever_ mention such a strange saying again. Am I understood?"

_Strange_. Her ability to communicate with birds was…_strange_?

From that day forward, she never once dared to mention her bluebirds to anyone else. She kept it to herself, away from Father, Regina, the servants…

Strange abilities were not meant to ever be spoken of aloud.

* * *

Years later, when she hides in the woods, far away from Regina's wrath, her bluebirds are her eyes on a world that is now foreign to her. They report every week or so with information concerning the Queen and her guards. If the threat is heading in one direction, she makes a run for the other. It's an endless struggle between survival and safety, but, for the princess-turned-into-thief, she's grateful to have such loyal companions in her trust.

Thankfully, her entire finally life takes a toll for the better when she meets Prince _Charming_.

The very same prince from her childhood stories, set to bring the happily ever after she had always so desperately longed for as a little girl, and who had, throughout it all, also taught her to never give up. To fight for what she truly believed in.

It was precisely why, instead of hiding, that they chose to fight for the kingdom they wanted to take back _together_ as a _family_.

They collected as much help as they could find, assembling a powerful army, and for the princess, that also meant asking her little friends for a task well within their capabilities.

Unfortunately, she was caught performing the act in the midst of it all by no other than her fiancé.

"Snow?"

The word _strange_ immediately echoes in her thoughts, and she's quick to usher the birds away.

"Yes? I was only…voicing my thoughts aloud."

The look he gives her in response demonstrates nothing but how he _knows_ she's lying to him, and she doesn't hesitate once to spend the rest of the afternoon spilling the entire story.

Unlike her former governess, he doesn't once interrupt. He sits, listens, strokes the palm of her hand with a gentle touch of his thumb, and doesn't once utter the word she desperately dreaded to hear.

He was the second person she's ever told, and the only one who perceived it to be a gift.

* * *

Almost three decades have long past when she once again journeys through the very same woods from her thieving days in search of Aurora. Or, put nicely, their only way of communication to Henry through a netherworld.

The desire to find the kidnapped princess only pushed her determination to return to Storybrooke — home — even more than before. She's anxious to see her husband, her grandson, her family, and her dear friends again. After twenty-eight years apart, this wasn't the reunion she had perfectly envisioned in her mind upon the curse breaking.

In part, thinking about them only appeared to make time fly by a little quicker, easing the longing ache in her heart, until she suddenly feels a pair of small legs land onto her right shoulder and bird toes curling themselves into the thin fabric of her pink sweater.

The message was as loud and clear as anything either Emma or Mulan could ever say, and she soon finds herself watching as the crow was flying away back to its master: back to Cora.

Her daughter is observing her with eyes so wide, eyes filled with such pure shock, that she doesn't even need to hear any words to know _exactly_ what Emma is thinking.

Only this time around, she doesn't perceive it to be strange as most still do. She perceives it as a gift, just as her husband does.

Besides, she has never, once before, ever been described as a very normal and typical princess. She was _Snow White_, and that was a better explanation than any.

* * *

Very early in the morning a few days following her and Emma's return to Storybrooke, surprisingly, she isn't conversing with her family or sleeping soundly next to her husband's side. Rather, she's standing before a half-opened window and conversing with a long-lost friend she too needed to catch up with.

It has been _far_ too long since she's heard such wonderful stories, and she knows that there will always be new ones to tell and new ones to spend hours listening to.

* * *

**Author's note: **Again, thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated!


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